Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World-Chapter 77 - 72. Assassins

The next week passed quite calmly, except that by the second day Severus himself joined the goblins so they would finish faster. With his help the construction speed almost doubled, and it became much easier to monitor the work. After all, goblins in this world were the best craftsmen, combining the diligence and talent of dwarves with a greedy love of gold. And after getting to know them more closely, he even began to like them because they did their work excellently. For a whole week he deducted only a measly eighty Galleons from the promised thousand, even though he had been counting on at least thirty percent.

The future house was almost completely ready. Only finishing the roof and inserting the windows remained. As for the interior renovation, he decided to do it himself, or more precisely, with the help of magic, because first he had to apply runes to the walls. Severus did not want to demonstrate those to the goblins, and only after that could he use transformation magic to rebuild the inside without anyone’s help, however he wanted.

Besides that, during this week Severus finally finished with potions. The recipes, of course, he did not want to demonstrate yet, at least until demand for the previous ones dropped. He decided to stop remaking recipes from his world for now because he already had enough Galleons, and the ones he had released would bring good profit for a long time. So he chose to simply continue studying potion-making to justify Slughorn’s hopes. The professor truly gave his all while teaching him. In this world Slughorn had become important to him, and Severus himself did not want to stand still. This was his second life, and he was not planning to end it any time soon. He wanted to learn as much as possible because even if this world was weak in terms of magic, there were still masters here from whom one could learn a great deal.

More than anything, he wanted to meet Flamel, the greatest alchemist of this world, who had managed to live for six hundred-plus years thanks to the Philosopher’s Stone, when on average wizards live only twenty to thirty years longer than Muggles. Of course, there were exceptions, magisters like Dumbledore. He would easily make it to two hundred, as would the previous headmaster, who by some miracle had been living through his third century already. Severus did not know what rank that man was, but he was sure the old wizard had crossed the Magister boundary. After all, there were many mysteries in this world, and magisters, and perhaps even archmages, lived not only in Magical Britain. Of course, Severus wanted to find the legacy of Hogwarts’s founders, but even if it did not work out, he would not regret it too much.

Although Severus had reached a level of power where only a few could threaten him in this world, that was far from the final goal. It was only the beginning. He was going to regain his former strength, become an Archmage again, and surpass himself from his past life, breaking through to a Great Archmage. The latter was only a dream in this magically weak world, but the rank of Archmage was not unattainable. It would simply require a couple of dozen years of work on himself, as well as collecting a huge amount of crystals filled with pure magical power, like in that cave.

London. Knightsbridge

In the park, not far from the noisy bustle, a witch dressed in black stood beside a lamppost. She calmly watched people passing by, as if thinking about something, until someone suddenly covered her eyes with his palms, earning an irritated snort.

"Stop these games."

"Miss Black, you are as charming as always," a pleasant male voice said right by her ear.

"And you are as annoying as always," Bellatrix replied sharply. After he removed his hands from her eyes, he slid them down to her thin waist.

"And what can I do?"

"Do not touch me."

"That is impossible. As soon as I see your face, I immediately lose my head and want to take you home, lock you in a golden cage, and admire you forever."

Bellatrix stared at him in a very strange way.

"Did someone hit you on the head? Or did you eat something wrong?"

"Hm! You know, I tried to be gallant with you, like a true aristocrat, saying one thing but meaning something completely different and thinking about a third," Severus grumbled in displeasure, pressing her a little closer.

"It does not suit you at all. Behave like before. I get enough of that at home and at all kinds of meetings with other families."

"Well, if my Bella wants it, then so be it." Bellatrix glared at him menacingly and broke free of his embrace.

"Do not call me that. How many times do I have to tell you?" she added tiredly, taking a simple black wallet from which she pulled out a box and handed it to him.

Severus opened it with mild interest and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"You are faster than I thought. I will contact him tomorrow. I think in a couple of days he will be here. In general, I will send an owl."

"I see. Then I..." Bellatrix took a step, but stopped when Severus caught her hand. She looked at him grimly.

"We still have a whole day ahead. You know, you pulled me right out of work, so you have to take responsibility."

Seeing his cheeky smile, Bellatrix really wanted to wipe it off his face, and as painfully as possible.

"We agreed only on weekends."

"I do not care. And as I heard, a new confectionery opened nearby, and they say the pastries there are among the best in the city." Her shoulders trembled, and the tempter-demon continued. "And just recently the sequel to that movie came out, and I just happened to have two tickets."

A few minutes later Bellatrix gave in. Those words were too sweet, and she was not even angry at him for trying to manipulate her like that, which was very strange for her. Before she could not stand him, but now that feeling had almost completely disappeared, turning into something else that she could not understand.

Closer to evening, after parting with Bellatrix, as usual seeing her home and smiling again at the elderly lady peering from the window, Severus headed calmly toward the park, and seven shadows followed him.

When he finally reached a deserted hill surrounded by trees, he stopped, turned around, and said with an indifferent face:

"Come out. Do you think I do not see you?"

For the first few seconds there was a deathly silence, until a crackling sound was heard and six wizards in dark outfits appeared right in front of him.

"When did you notice?" one of them asked grimly, calmly taking out his wand, while the others were already aiming at Severus.

"From the moment I met Bella. You tried to hide in the shadows, but you masked your magic very poorly. Tell the one trying to attack from behind to come out too, otherwise." A cold smile appeared on Severus’s face, and seven fireballs the size of footballs ignited behind his back. They radiated such heat that the snow around him melted completely.

That display of power made the leader wary. He understood it was not an illusion, and the fact that their opponent had cast it without words or a wand made one thing clear: this was not a simple sixth-year student, as they had been told, but someone much stronger. The sum they had been paid was far too low.

"Andrew, come back," the man ordered strictly, and a moment later a shadow flashed past Severus and another person appeared beside the group.

"Retreating?"

"We accepted an order to frighten a simple Hogwarts student, not a wizard of your level."

"I see, so you do have brains." One fireball vanished, and in the next instant the tree behind them turned to ash in a fraction of a second.

All seven broke into a cold sweat. It was too fast. If the wizard in front of them had wanted to kill them, they would already be dead.

"I will not kill you because you did not want to kill me and were only fulfilling an order, but you will have to work. Do not worry, you will receive worthy payment." Grinning bloodthirstily, Severus tossed the leader a diamond-shaped crystal. "This is a recording crystal. Feed a little magic into it and it will record everything around you within ten metres." Then a bag of Galleons dropped at the assassins’ feet. "There is five thousand. Your task is to return to the employer, beat him, strip him naked, and throw him in the centre of Diagon Alley. You can also pass along greetings from me. You have skill, and Rodolphus most likely did not discuss this step with anyone."

Outwardly their leader remained indifferent, but inside he was shocked. How could Severus know their client? Before the operation they had gathered as much information about Severus as possible and knew someone stood behind him. Still, the team had not planned to kill him, only frighten him, and they were just passing through this country, so they had not worried too much about offending someone. But the fact that a simple schoolboy had turned out to be so dangerous made him almost curse Rodolphus, who had told them Severus was only a little stronger than a Hogwarts sixth-year and had paid a miserable thousand Galleons. Most of all, the leader was furious at his own blindness. They had been led around by the nose like children, and if the order had been to kill, only a pathetic pile of ash would remain of them. Even without Severus, he was going to take revenge on the damned aristocrat who had nearly destroyed his team.

Pulling himself together, the man picked up the bag and hung it from his belt.

"Thank you for leaving us alive. We will fulfil your order today. You will receive the report at twelve o’clock." Bowing, the group melted into the shadows and vanished a moment later, leaving only Severus on the snowy clearing. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Not bad. Each of them is not inferior to Slughorn in magical power, and they are physically well developed too. It would be nice to get them, but for now it will do. I need to get home." Sighing tiredly, he simply disappeared.

Not far from the Lestrange estate, a man in a dark cloak stood near a large tree, as if waiting for someone.

"Where the hell are they?" he thought irritably, pacing in place.

A few seconds later six assassins appeared ten metres from him. At the sight of them, the wizard grumbled, "Finally!" That was what it seemed like, because their leader stepped out of the shadow behind him and punched him in the face with all his strength, sending the shocked aristocrat to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Rodolphus shouted furiously, trying to reach for his wand, but a kick to his hand and the pain made him forget about it. "Do you even know who I am?"

"A bastard who deceived us," the leader hissed, pulling out the crystal. As soon as it glowed, he looked at the others. "Strip him and hang him on the tree. The next two hours will be unforgettable."

"Wha..." Rodolphus did not get to finish. A gag was shoved into his mouth. He could only moo in fury and throw lightning from his eyes, but when he saw the gloves with steel blunt spikes that the leader was putting on, fear began dancing in his eyes. "What the hell is happening?"

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